As much as you know about Dartmouth, student tour guides from the Admissions Office might be able to teach you a thing or two. And you might think you could teach them a thing or two, as well.
Although no tour could offer a comprehensive look at the College, some students might be surprised by what the Admissions Office chooses to tell prospective students visiting the campus.
This summer, tour guides are stressing the efforts of the College to promote academic skills and assimilate freshmen, while downplaying the role of fraternities in the social life of the College and wavering on the future of Dartmouth Dining Services.
During the tour, prospectives and their parents are led from McNutt hall, through the Collis Center and in back of Massachussetts Row, past the Rockefeller Center, through Baker library, past Dartmouth Row and through the Hopkins Center.
By the numbers
Guides emphasize the College's 12-to-1 student-to-teacher ratio and the accessibility of professors. "The professors are wonderful," Kerry Bystrom '99 told prospectives on her tour, but stressed that "you must go and see them to get personal attention."
While tour guides point out the Amos Tuck School of Business, the Thayer School of Engineering and the Dartmouth Medical School, they tell touring groups the schools are small and that the College's focus is on undergraduates.
"There are only about 80 students admitted to the medical school each year," Jonah Sonnenborn '99 told prospectives.
Guides stress the nine libraries on campus and the ability of students to access the library catalogue on-line. Leslie Kinsey '99 told one of her tour groups that the College has "one of the largest open-stack libraries in the country."
Kinsey also told her tour group that 50 percent of students are involved in fraternities and sororities.
Tour guides also focus on opportunities for students to become involved in the Tucker Foundation, citing 24 percent student involvement in community service and 30,000 hours per year of total student service.
Guides also tell prospectives that all Presidential candidates come to the College as speakers through the Rockefeller Center because New Hampshire is the first primary state.
Tour guides discussing Dartmouth Dining Services describe the Declining Balance Account system and the College's different dining facilities while admitting that the future of Dartmouth meal plans is uncertain.
"They're still deciding what to do," Bystrom told prospectives.
Relativity
Much of what prospective students are told is rather subjective and might cause a few students to raise their eyebrows.
Tour guides show prospectives part of fraternity row but stress that the social life at Dartmouth is not dominated by fraternities or alcohol.
"There's no difference in alcohol here than at any other school," Bystrom said.
They also emphasize the College's policy of prohibiting freshman from rushing or attending parties their fall term.
Sonnenborn told prospectives that this enables freshmen to "bond" their freshman fall and before joining Greek houses.
Tour guides show prospective students the outside of Mass Row while describing residential life at Dartmouth as a lottery system and emphasizing the role of undergraduate advisors in assimilating freshmen.
Kinsey told parents who asked to see a room that "we're not supposed to show rooms because they are all different. There is no bad room."
Incidentally, tour guides do not lead prospectives around the Choates or the River clusters.
When asked by a parent if housing was provided for everyone, Bystrom said it is not guaranteed but "that is where the [Dartmouth Plan] comes in." She added that people on the wait list usually end up with a good room when students move to off-campus apartments.
In response to another parent question, Bystrom admitted that "there are some bad side effects" to the D-plan, such as being off campus during different terms than friends, but added that internships are easier to get during leave terms because there is less competition with students from other schools than in the summer.
"The D-plan prevents burn-out," Sonnenborn said. He told prospectives there are 80 off-campus programs the College offers and described the D-plan as giving students "a nice break to go off and study in Costa Rica, for example."
The construction in Webster Hall and behind Baker prompts tour guides to describe the expansion of the library and a new rare books library.
Webster Hall is undergoing construction to convert it into the Rauner Special Collections Library. The renovation of Webster Hall sparked a controversy when it was first announced in the winter of 1995, as it was the College's only medium-sized programming space.
Bystrom told her tour group the library will replace performance space in Webster but will provide students with more access to the College's rare collections.
Prospectives are told about the performances that come to the College, especially Baryshnikov's stay as an artist in residence. Kinsey said that "because we're between Montreal and Boston, good shows come to the College."
